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Summary: The best book ever
Review: I just got done reading the clan of the cave bear. This is the best book I ever seen. From the very sart it is one of the best books in the world. From when Iza finds a little girl that is so close to dieing that olny Iza's best work can bring her back to the last line this book it's grate. This is the book that you have wanted all of your live. Form the time that she is 5 to the time she is 11 she dose not stop warming your hart.
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Summary: intresting and informative
Review: i would just like to say that i believe that i one of the best examples of historical fiction existing. not only is it informative, the plot is rich and subtle, and the whole book is full of twists and turns. i sinverely hope that the rest of the series are just as good, and that many other people will have the chance i have to savor this masterpiece of writing. also, this review is dedicated to adrienne(if she happens to be reading this) and to my hated tx history teacher who recomended it. the only worthwhile thing he's ever said!
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Summary: Clan of the Cave Bear- A Must Read!
Review: The first book of the Earth's Children series I read was "Shelters of Stone", found on the bestsellers rack at a Wal-Mart in Wichita, Kansas, where my mother and I were visit relatives at the time. It look interesting, so I picked it up, took it back to the Best Western we were staying at. In the three days that followed, I finished all 700-something pages of the book, craving for me. When we returned home, I got "Clan of the Cave Bear" from the local library. It took me one and a half days to read the cinderclock sized novel. I was hooked. Since then I have re-read the entire series, but "Clan" remains my favorite. Ms. Auel has done a fantastic job of protray her Cro-Magnon character Ayla, who is adopted into the Clan, a group of Neanderthals, an ancient race who fears and avoids the newcomers with their ingenious thinking power. Ayla is one of the "Others", the Cro-Magnon peoples who would evolve quickly into humans as we know them today. Robbed of her home and family in a violent earthquake, the child Ayla wanders aimlessly around the terrain of ancient Europe. Finally she passes out in fatigue after being attacked by a cave lion, the animal that would later become her totem. The Clan was robbed of their home and families as well in the same quake, and are now searching for a new cave. The Clan happens upon injured Ayla, and would have left her lying there if it hadn't been for Iza, the medicine woman of the Clan. She rescues the girl of the Others and nurses her back to health. Soon she is accepted into the Clan, and into Mog-ur's fire. Creb, the Mog-ur, finds himself bonding to this strange girl. However, she has much to learn about the Clan before she is truly accepted, and she has found an enemy in the form of a young man, Broud, the son of the leader's mate. Broud's hatred of Ayla results in the thing that Ayla will come to love most, but she can't do anything that may cause it to be taken from her...
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Summary: I read almost 5 pages!
Review: An earthquake opens a crack in the earth, the parents fall in, and it slams shut!?!?!? That's the best Auel could do? Has that EVER happened in history to ANYONE?I read that and threw the book in the trash. And it wasn't even my copy!
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Summary: Dance of the cave bear?
Review: As so many others have written, this is one of my all time favorites. Excellently written with superb attention to detail I have read and re-read more than once.
Though Clan of the cave bear has more of a literary punch, I must confess, that I find it hard to believe that Auel had not been inspired to write this series by reading "Dance of the Tiger" by Bjorn Kurten, which pre-dates this book by at least 2 years. The likeness of the plots are uncannily similar, from Neanderthals taking in a wounded Cro-Magnon to "death curses" the list of parallels is rather long. However, while that particular novel is no longer published, Auel's works remain as best sellers until today, a testament to outstanding story telling with something further when it comes to describing true nature of humanity.
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Summary: Male - and still liked it!!
Review: I knew that this was a novel that has been heralded as a feminist novel - a story about strong women and their struggles with society. And eventhough I have never really considered myself a "strong feminist" I really liked the book...P>The book is fascinating, the characters interesting and the setting is awe-inspiring. I couldn't put the book down once I got into the story. I would recommend this book to anyone.
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Summary: Amazing
Review: I thought this book was in a word, amazing. I loved the idea of a novel being set over 25,000 years ago. The plot was unique and suspenseful and I found myself reading long into the night. The author kept the story very realistic and congruent with actual theorys and new archaeological discoveries; I found this facinating. I found myself sympathizing often with Ayla and hurting when she hurt. Broud was a powerful antagonist and while I was forced to hate him, it was hard not to see things from his point of view as a fierce supporter of Clan traditions. While he was arrogant and unforgiving, he was a good opposite for Ayla and kept the story moving and exciting. Iza and Crub were wonderfully developed characters, both stern and compassionate. I absoutely loved how little things in the story stuck out about what life may be like in the future. The golden hair and blue eyes. Straight legs. How children are conceived. Everything. It all fit to how the reader knew things would end up thousands of years later when the mammoths would die out along with the Clan. The only main complaint I had about the book was that Ayla was always in trouble. She never got a break and I found that sort of frustrating. I know it would be hard to keep a book interesting if the protagonist was always carefree and happy, but I found it a little unrealistic that Ayla would be brought before Brun with a death sentence that many times and still come out unmarred.
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Summary: Surprise Review
Review: I'm usually a romance fiction type - but decided to try reading something different. I couldn't put this down. The research that went into this had to be tremendous and it is very believable. Who's to say how things were when humans were developing. I've had a few weeks break now I think I am ready for #2 in the series.
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Summary: Clan of the Cave Bear
Review: The Clan of the Cave Bear was one of the best books i have ever read. You can tell that the author took a lot of time preparing to write this book in her extensive research of the Ice Age and the people that lived at that time. The story could take place in any time period because it is about a person who is adopted into a culture completely different from her own and has trouble fitting into the strict lifestyle. I would definetly recomend this book to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Good, worthy effort
Review: If you are looking for an engaging story, not fluffy but not too ponderous, and one that is a little off the beaten track, this would be a good choice. The previous negative review surprises me. I have read Unmeel's other reviews and believe that his inaccurate review of this book is not worthy of his talents. Author Jean Auel goes to great pains in this book not to portray the CroMagnon girl as "superior" to the Neandrethal clan that has adopted her. The Neandrethals survived for 250,000 years, far longer than we have, a fact which Auel reverently acknowledges. This story is set during a time where the characteristics of one hominid species (Neandrethal) would, through a certain inflexibility, bring about its demise, while the characteristics of another, CroMagnon, would enable it to continue as earth's surviving human inhabitant. Since this book deals thematically with this transition, it is essential that it looks at the differences that brought it about. Nowhere does the book explicitly or through its tone suggest that the difference meant the Neandrethals were inferior. In fact, they are portrayed lovingly and respectively. Indeed, Auel's view seems to be that the Neandrethals were in several ways superior to the CroMagnon, but that overall their inability to adapt to the forthcoming changes ultimately rendered these advantages meaningless. The plot is far fetched, and of course a certain license must be taken when writing about how people lived some 30,000 years ago, but the tale is carries you along, is often touching, and is refreshing in its refusal to impose 20th century values on prehistoric societies. The writing style can be uneven, making me think that perhaps it was written over a long period of time with gaps in between, but when all is said and done we have been introduced to several memorable characters. The most appealing is that of the Mog-Ur, the medicine man, proving that Auel's bias is not toward the "new and improved" CroMagnon.
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